


Heroes of Flowers: Family Vacation

by TheSparklyKitten



Series: Heroes of Flowers [2]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon), Spider-Man (Cartoon 2017), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Characters tagged will appear eventually, Comedy, Crossover, Eventually I said!, Family Fluff, Humor, Original Characters - Freeform, Other, Slice of Life, Spoilers for both big hero 6 AND marvel spiderman series!, What time is it? CROSSOVER TIME!, this isnt even the first crossover, vacation fic, yeah you heard me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28506303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSparklyKitten/pseuds/TheSparklyKitten
Summary: After a harrowing semester of villains and amnesia, the Hamada family takes time to kick back and relax by visiting some of the family in New York! The newest addition of the family is still hesitant, but hey: Hiro reassured her that she'll be welcome. Ari at least hopes so. Join them in a relaxing slice-of-life vacation with a few familiar faces! At least in the Marvel variety.
Relationships: Anya Sofia Corazon/Gwen Stacy (Mentioned), Harry Osborn/Peter Parker, Hiro Hamada & Peni Parker, Hiro Hamada & Peter Parker, Peni Parker & Original Character
Series: Heroes of Flowers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555597
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue: Packing Up

To say that Ariel Rosemary witnessed an eventful semester would be an understatement. Because in her eyes, it was more of an emotional rollercoaster. She was kind of glad it was all over, but the voice in the back of her head told her that next semester would be even more chaotic. Probably because she was going to attend Bridgeton high school, her first public school for the first time, well… ever.

But that wasn't going to happen for a while.

"Hey." She looked up from her suitcase and saw her brother by the stairs. "You all packed up?" Hiro asked her.  
"Not yet." Ari chuckled. "I'm just taking a last look at these before I go." In her hands were paper letters that had elegant handwriting written on each one.

"Letters?" Hiro walked over to inspect them. "Oh, the letters Juniper sends you." He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You're not packing because of _those_?"  
"Hey!" Ari huffed. "I'll have you know they make me feel better after a bad day!" She crossed her arms, turning away from him.

"Oh, I didn't know that." As annoying as her brother was, Hiro wouldn't judge her for what comforts her. He picked up one of the letters, noticing it was sent after the whole monster Knox thing. "Huh, she has pretty neat handwriting, kind of reminds me of Fred's with the cursive and whatnot."  
"Fred knows cursive?" Ari questioned.  
"When he wants to." Hiro shrugged. "Do you mind if I read this? I kind of want to know what kind of stuff she keeps sending you."

She playfully punched him on the shoulder, but her expression was amused. "Sure, go ahead."

A part of him was surprised at how polite Juniper could be on paper. _I guess she's nice… for a villain._

* * *

_Dear Ari,_

_So I saw on the news that there was a monster attack at a gala you said you were going to and OH MY GOSH ARE YOU OKAY?! It was at your brother's school too right? I hope he's okay as well, might not know the guy but no one deserves to get attacked by a monster : (. On a side note, I feel really bad for the poor guy that got turned into a monster. I heard other stories like that in the news, it's really sad. The people who get turned have no control over their bodies, either they barely remember the experience and feel phantom pain over their mutation or they remember everything they did and are traumatized about it. It's a real bummer._

_What? I get really bored in here, it starts making me do a lot of deep thinking. Feel free to come visit soon._

_From your really bored friend,_

_Juniper_

"Weird question." Hiro turned to Ari. "How much stuff do you tell her whenever you visit?"  
"Mostly how my life is going." She gestured. "Don't worry I don't tell her any secretive stuff, y'know... The superhero kind."

"I know you can keep that secret." He chuckled. "I mean, do you talk about me?"  
She snickered. "Only a little, mostly how freaking annoying you are!"

"Hey!" Hiro protested. "I'm not that annoying!"

"I'm just messing with you." Ari patted his shoulder. "I'm actually going to send her this letter before we leave." She held up a piece of paper that has yet to be folded into an envelope. "Do you wanna proofread it or something?"  
"Sure." He was also curious to see what Ari was sending her. As he was handed the letter he found Ari's handwriting rather adorable.

_Dear June,_

_So I'm sending you this as my last letter before I go on vacation. I know, I know, I already told you in person. But this is just a nice letter you can hold in your hand while I'm away to help ease your boredom. Do they have books in prison by the way? Just curious, since if not then I guess these are the closest things to reading books._

_I'm probably going to send more since I'll be attending Bridgeton shortly after, which stinks, I know. I'll try to visit when I can though!  
I don't know what else to put in here so might as well tell you all the details of my trip, so my Aunt Cass is taking us to New York to visit her sister and her kids. I don't know much about them except what Hiro told me, which is that they're nerds like him. I really hope I can make a good impression on them, but also I want to do some sightseeing while I'm there. New York has a few superheroes, and I hope I can catch a glimpse of them!  
Probably shouldn't mention this but a while ago one of my older friends Mikan did something that uh… was bad, that's all I can say. And the only reason I forgave her is that she had some information about my amnesia (yes it's still present and it's annoying getting memories whenever I'm working at the cafe.), but I'm wondering if I should've forgiven her that easily. She's my friend but she also broke my trust, and I don't blame my brother for not forgiving her though._

_I'd like some advice on this, so I guess I'll wait for your response when I get back! And I'll tell you all of the details!_

_From your pal,_

_Ari_

"You're right." Ari looked up at her brother. "You probably shouldn't have put the Mikan thing in there." At least Ari didn't mention any other names.

"But you're not gonna tell me to erase it?" She noted his disapproving expression.

"No, not really." He shrugged. "I wonder if your friendship with her means she and her mom might not go back to crime-dancing as soon as they get out."

"Probably." A part of her would really like that, it would be nice not having to visit her friend in prison all the time. "But I try not to bring it up, it just feels awkward."

Hiro wanted to talk more about it, but they were cut off when Cass walked upstairs.

"Kids, you all packed up?" She asked them. "We're about to leave for the airport pretty soon."  
"Almost done Aunt Cass." Hiro replied. "Just helping Ari out."  
"I wanna send this letter before we leave!" She waved the letter.

"Alright." Cass nodded. "We can drop by the post office after we drop Mochi at Gogo and Honey Lemon's apartment."  
"Why can't we bring Mochi with us?" Ari questioned.

"Because Peter's allergic to cats." Hiro explained, stuffing a pile of letters carefully into her suitcase. "He usually brings allergy medicine whenever they come over, but since we're dropping in unexpectedly it's better to be safe than sorry."  
"Oh." She felt uncomfortable. _I don't even know what allergies they have, I'm off to a great start._

* * *

The drive to Gogo and Honey Lemon's apartment was uneventful, Ari was in her own little bubble during the drive, and it popped when they got out of the car to say goodbye.

"Make sure you lock the windows, otherwise Mochi'll make a run for it." Cass was telling them, the calico had already made himself comfortable in Honey Lemon's arms.  
"Don't worry Aunt Cass, Honey Lemon and I can tangle Mochi for a few days." Gogo reassured her. "You guys just enjoy your trip."  
"And take good care of Baymax too." Hiro added.  
"Wait a minute." Ari then noticed the charging station plugged into the wall, the robot already inside it. "We're not taking Baymax with us?!"  
Cass and Hiro exchanged glances. "You didn't tell her?" Cass frowned at her nephew.  
"I forgot!" He huffed, then turned to Ari. "Look, unfortunately airport security doesn't have robot rights, so we can't bring Baymax with us."  
"Ouch." She winced. "That sucks."  
"Yeah." Hiro nodded in agreement. "Darn airport security."  
Cass chuckled at their discussion. "Okay, we can talk about this another day.'  
"Have fun on your trip guys!" Honey Lemon hugged both teens.  
"We will." Hiro smiled. "You excited Ari?"  
"Still a little nervous." She took a step back, but her foot hit the doorframe. "Ow!"

Baymax popped out his charging station and waddled over to her. " _I was alerted to your need for medical attention when you said ow._ "

The whole group burst into laughter as Ari blushed red. "I'm good Baymax." She waved it off. "Just hit my foot."  
" _My scan indicates you are experiencing minor stress and anxiety._ " Baymax pointed out, Hiro gave her a concerned look as she flashed him a nervous smile. " _Would you like a hug?_ "  
"Yes." She squeaked, burying her face into the robot's vinyl. Hiro chuckled and started hugging her as well as Baymax. "Guys chill, I'm just nervous about making a good impression."  
"Oh don't worry about that sweetheart." Cass patted her shoulder in a comforting matter. "May and the kids will love you."

"Have you guys met them?" She turned to Gogo and Honey Lemon.  
"No." Gogo gave a blunt response.  
"Only from what Hiro says about them." Honey Lemon added. "We only interacted once… It was at the funeral."  
Ari knew what funeral she was talking about and decided not to pry. "Okay. You guys have fun taking care of Mochi and Baymax."

" _Goodbye._ " Baymax waved to them.

"I'll miss you buddy." Hiro gave him one last hug. "You guys better be nice to him." He glared at Gogo while he said that.  
"Dude, chill." She chuckled. "I'm not gonna do anything crazy with Baymax."  
"I was referring to Mochi."

They all laughed.

* * *

On the drive to the airport, Hiro saw that his sister was still nervous, she was playing with her hair, looking out the window, her worried expression painted on the glass. "You gonna be okay?"  
"Hm?" She turned. "Oh, I guess…"  
"Have you ever been to New York?" Cass asked her.  
"I don't remember." She frowned. "I think I used to live in uh… somewhere with snow." Ari tapped her fingers. "I remember snow days with my parents, and snowmen, and skiing."  
"That sounds fun." He was a little jealous. "I've never experienced snow."  
"Oh, really?" Cass batted her eyes. "Remember that time you and Tadashi tried having a snow day and you both-"  
"Aunt Cass, not now!" He cut her off, blushing red.  
"Oh, I've got to hear this one." Ari snickered. "Wait, I thought New York had snow. You've visited when there was snow, right?"  
"A few times." He gestured. "Not enough to have the full snowy experience."  
"Bummer."

Hiro cleared his throat. "Do you feel better?"  
"A little." Ari huffed. "Um, have you guys talked about me, to them?"  
"Of course, I had to ask my sister for parenting advice on girls." Cass winked. "Though she's had more experience raising science kids than me."  
"Science kids?" Ari looked at Hiro. "Must run in the family."  
"Meh. I've talked about you to my cousins, I need someone to talk to besides the others."

"What about-"  
"Don't even finish that sentence I swear to-" They started playfully bickering for the rest of the drive, Cass trying not to keep the nostalgic look hidden.

It reminded her of the silly arguments she had with her brother and sister. _I can't wait until our kids get along, May._ She smiled.

Their families could use a nice break after all the craziness after-all, and her niece would love to hang with some of her new cousins, Cass just hoped her nephew didn't tease her _too_ much.


	2. Chapter 1: The Parkers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ari meets her new extended family! This part of the fic kicks in the crossover aspects! May contain major Season 1 Spoilers of the 2017 Marvel Spiderman series. Ye have been warned!

Although it had been a few years since Hiro had been to New York City, it was still in the same state of his last visit. However as Cass drove the rental car through the city, he saw a few damaged buildings here and there, as if the city had been turned into a battlefield and the wounds were still healing.

Even Ari had noticed the destruction. "Huh, does New York always look like this?" She turned to her brother and aunt.

"Nope." He replied. "At least I think."  
"You think?"  
"We haven't had much of a chance to visit as often as May visits us." Cass explained. "Last time we visited besides holidays was about a year ago, and the last time they visited us was Tadashi's funeral."

Ari frowned. _That must've been an awful visit. Having to show up at another relative's funeral_. At least they both had family to comfort them during that time.  
"I video chat them a lot though." Hiro told her. "Peni and I have a lot in common, we both major in robotics, we're teen geniuses-"  
"You both have disaster hairstyles." Cass chipped in.  
"Hey!" He patted his messy black hair down. "But yeah, you're right, one time Peter couldn't tell the difference between us, that was a funny prank." He chuckled at the memory. To pass the time of her inevitable doom, Hiro and Cass had started talking about her aunt's older sister May, and her kids.  
"What about Peter?" She asked. "Do you both have messy hair too?"

"Peter has somehow escaped the family tradition of having messy hairstyles." Cass turned her attention back on the road. "But the boy works himself too hard."  
"Just like Hiro." Ari noted. "So they're both May's kids?"  
Hiro gave her an awkward smile, upon seeing Cass glare at him for not explaining things sooner! "Well, it's complicated."

"Oh boy." She rolled her eyes.  
"Peni is our cousin on our side of the family," Hiro explained. "Peter is our cousin from Uncle Ben's side of the family."  
"So even though Peni is related to you and Aunt Cass, Peter isn't?" Ari raised an eyebrow.  
"Yep."

"What happened to Ben? This is the first I'm hearing of him." Hiro and Cass flinched.

"He died." Cass was the one who broke the silence.  
"Oh. Ohh..." Ari's head dropped.  
"Try not to bring it up sweetheart, it's still a sore subject." Cass was driving through a neighborhood and parked the car. "Happened a long time ago."  
"Sorry if my questioning was-" But he interrupted her.  
"No Ari, don't apologize, I should say sorry for not informing you until the last-minute." He turned to Cass. "We probably should've given you a rundown."  
His aunt nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should've. But we're here!"

* * *

They were in front of a green roofed house with cream tiles. The bushes in front of the house had budding flowers despite it being the fall, making it different from the other similarly built houses. Ari shivered, clutching her blue striped sweater.  
"You cold?" Hiro asked her. "Want my jacket?"

"No, just nervous." She stared up at the sky, it was turning a dark blue and faint stars were beginning to show. The clouds were looming over them, and it was as if they were casting a shadow over Ari. "I don't want to mess things up again."  
"What did you mess up?" Hiro frowned, he hated how she had that self-loathing mindset. A part of him blamed her parents. _Where else did she get that from?_ "Nothing, that's what. You'll be fine Ari."  
"Okay." But her tone said she didn't believe him.

Cass knocked on the door, and a woman opened it. She had brown hair tied in a bun similar to Cass's but overwhelmed in gray streaks. She was wearing a dark red long-sleeved shirt with a pink shawl, brown jeans and loafers. Her green eyes lit up with excitement when recognizing the group.  
"Cass! I didn't expect you to visit, how have you been?" She smiled at them.  
"We've been fine, May." Cass replied. "It's Hiro's first semester break so we thought we'd pop a visit."

"And there's someone who wants to meet you." Hiro added, he nudged Ari up to the door. She felt her heart pound with fear as May looked at her. But to her surprise the woman just grinned at her.

"You must be Ari!" She shook her hand. "It's so nice to meet you, I'm May."

"It's-it's nice to meet you ma'am." Ari stuttered out.

"Oh none of that ma'am stuff dear, you're part of the family now." May gently ruffled her hair. "Just call me Aunt May."

"Aunt May, can we go inside now?" Hiro asked her. "It's kind of cold."  
Ari snickered with amusement. "And you were gonna offer me your jacket."  
"I was being nice!"

They entered the house, and Ari felt relief as she warmed up. "Peter, Peni!" May called out. "Aunt Cass and Cousin Hiro are visiting!"  
There was the sound of feet running down the stairs at her words. A girl with messy black hair that matched Hiro's poked her head from a corner. "Hey." She greeted them.  
"Hey Peni." Hiro smiled and waved to her. "Long day?"  
"Yep." She stepped out, and Ari saw her eyes were the same shape and color as Hiro's. She had a yellow hair clip in her bang. Her black shirt had a pink stripe across the chest, the sleeves were white. She had a plaid skirt, knee-high black stockings and black sneakers with red laces. Peni then noticed Ari who was shyly standing behind Hiro. "So you're Ari."  
"Yep." Ari held her hands behind her back. "That's me, Hiro told me that you two are practically twins." Then she facepalmed. _Why did I say that?!_

But Peni just flashed a small smile. "That's a new one. I'm a few months older than Hiro, but I guess you're now the baby of the family then."  
She heard her brother go "yes!" and pump up his fist behind her. But she was shocked at how easily Peni and May just accepted her in. "Really? You just met me. Yo-you think of me as family that easily?"

Peni nodded, and Ari felt her eyes beginning to water.  
"Oh no, I think this was too much for her." Cass had a look of concern.  
"Ari?" Hiro began shaking her shoulder. "C'mon don't cry."  
She just laughed. "These are happy tears guys. I-I'm just happy that I have cousins now. My parents were both only childs so I didn't have any cousins and I'm just-" Hiro started hugging her.  
"Darn It now you're making me cry Ari." He chuckled, wiping away a few tears from his eyes.

"Me too." Peni added, she had walked up to the two and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's nice finally having a girl cousin, I was tired of being the only girl in the family."  
"Hey!" Both Cass and May cried out in a humorous tone. "Glad you kids are getting along swell." The latter added. "Where's Peter? I called him down."  
"He's too busy working for school." Peni replied. "Again."

"You don't say?" Ari raised an eyebrow, staring at Hiro with a knowing look. "Does workaholism run in the family or something?"  
"Ha ha, very funny." Hiro rolled his eyes. "We'll just come upstairs then."  
"No need, I'll get him." Peni offered, and she ran up the stairs to fetch her cousin.

"Does he do this all the time?" Ari whispered to Hiro.  
"Yep." He whispered back. "He started diving into his work more in the past few years."

"Well, you guys have fun!" Cass told the teens. "May and I are going to catch up in the living room."  
"Okay." They nodded, and watched as the two adults walked to another room.  
"Do you wanna head upstairs to check on our cousins?" Hiro offered, Ari felt a little weird about "our cousins" but she nodded.  
"Yep!"

* * *

Hiro led her up the stairs with a glimmer in his eyes. They stopped at a door and he knocked on it. "Hey! Anyone home?!"

Ari swore she heard a faint crash and whooshing sound in the room, and Peni's voice mumbling about hiding something. Eventually she opened the door.  
"Oh hey guys." Peni had a sheepish smile on her face. "Come in." As Ari entered the room she saw a lot of sciency stuff, just like Hiro's room except it was kept tidier.

There was a boy sitting at the desk. He had short curly brown hair with a tuft of it sticking up and warm lime-green eyes. He was wearing a red hoodie zipped up and navy blue pants.

"Peter, as you can tell our cousin Hiro is visiting." Peni introduced her. "And this sad child over here is Ari." _Sad?!_ She narrowed her eyes.

"I might've talked about you a lot." Hiro explained. "And when the whole thing with your parents happened I might've vented to my cousins. While crying. Because it was sad."  
"It was really sad." Peni added.  
"Yeah..." He chuckled. "Sorry Ari."  
She just rolled her eyes, and walked up to Peter. "Uh hi, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." He smiled, his hand nervously adjusted his zipper. "I would've tidied up if I knew you guys were visiting."  
"May called you down five minutes ago." Peni pointed out.

"I was busy!" He protested, but she just walked over and playfully ruffled his hair.  
"You're a dork, Peter."

Ari leaned over to Hiro. "Is this what people see whenever we interact?" She whispered.  
"Probably." He whispered back, then cleared his throat. "So, introductions are done. We're all accepting as family, how have you guys been?"  
"We've been fine." Peter told him. "How about you?"  
"Fine."  
"I've been great!" Ari chipped in. "I got to meet Hiro and his friends and they're awesome and I'm just really happy to be part of the family now, and I hope we can be friends too."  
The two Parkers had smiles at her enthusiasm. "I'd like to be your friend Ari." Peni told her. "You're nicer in person than I thought."  
"Yeah, same." Peter added. "More friends the merrier!"  
Hiro smiled at how his sister lit up with happiness and the feeling of being accepted. "Thanks." Ari giggled. "Can I ask what happened here?"  
"We drove by and the city was still beat up." Hiro explained.  
Peni just pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered curses at a jackal, so Peter explained. "Well, there was this… incident, where a guy tried taking over New York." He flashed an awkward smile. "And turned everyone into spider monsters."  
Her jaw dropped. "What?"  
"Yeah, luckily all our spider superheroes saved the day." Peni chuckled. "With some help."  
"Are you guys okay?!" Ari asked.  
"Yeah, we're fine. We don't remember much of it." Peter added. "Aunt May doesn't remember much either."  
"I wasn't even around for most of it." Peni mumbled under her breath, loud enough for Hiro to hear.  
"Let's talk about something cheerier." Hiro coughed. "So, anything exciting going on?"  
Peter looked relieved to change the subject. "Well I saw this funny thing at the cafe I frequent-" as the story continued and they continued to talk, Hiro was glad to just relax and be surrounded by family.

He missed that feeling of warmth, something the fire had taken away, so he was glad to feel the full warmth of being surrounded by loved ones once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Laughs in nervous crossover energy* Anyways the crossover picks in :D
> 
> Not only do we have one Parker... but TWO! I also added Peni bc I love her, she needs more love, and you can pry the hc that she and Hiro are teen genius cousins from my cold dead paws. If you're having trouble wrapping around the family ties, me too. But let's just say Peni is a first or second cousin once removed in terms of the technicalities (and so is Peter on his uncle's side of the family). There is a lot of family tragedies on both sides smh u.u
> 
> The events of the Spiderverse still happened w/ Peni, and it'll explain more next chapter along with some sibling bonding! But it was fun trying to write the Parkers, I hope I did them justice.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed! Don't forget to review (it feeds my motivation), and remember you can still ask the cast a question in the comments until the fic is over!


	3. Chapter 2: Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids have breakfast with pan-- I mean wheatcakes!  
> Why are two of them up early?

Hiro and Ari were staying in the guest room, Cass was sharing a room with her sister so they had the room to themselves. But the flight to New York combined with chatting with their cousins made them crash as soon as they hit the covers.

Hiro had woken up first, at seven in the morning. He turned to his right and saw that Ari was clinging to him as a koala, he gently nudged her to her side of the bed so he could get up. As he walked to the living room, he saw Peni was chilling by the couch. Her glowing brown eyes were gazing into him.

"Does Ari know about your secret identity?" She asked him.  
"Yes." He sat next to her on the couch, Hiro figured she'd want to get any superhero business over with before the rest of the family woke up. "I technically didn't tell her, Fred spilled the beans."  
"Would you have told her?" Peni raised an eyebrow.

"No." Hiro shook his head. "I didn't want to burden her with that secret, but she's been respectful about it and helps me cover my butt."  
"Nice." Peni flashed a grin. "Since Peter and I are both superheroes we both have to choreograph our excuses, it's difficult."

"Did anyone find out about you and Peter being Sp/dr and Spiderman respectively?" He asked. "Is that why you're bringing it up?"  
"Kind of." She sighed. "Peter's friend Harry found out his identity during the whole Spider Island incident, y'know the one that happened a few weeks before whatever the hell happened in your city."  
"That was Obake trying to create a star when he stole my invention to do it." Hiro knew which incident she was talking about. "Wait how did his friend find out?"  
"Peter told him." Peni grabbed her water bottle from the coffee table and took a sip of it. "I would've reprimanded him for that if I wasn't… y'know."  
"Trapped in an alternate dimension?" Hiro raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I don't know if it was better or worse than the time you went into a dimension, but at least out of that experience I learned that Peter and I aren't the only Spider people in the world."  
"Doesn't Kid Arachnid count?" He frowned. "That's the superhero name for the other spider superhero in New York, right?"  
"Yeah. But I mean, it was a nice experience despite almost dying due to the method of dimension transportation." Peni had a smile on her face. "Peter probably would've preferred that over spider monsters. And the Sinister Six, and Norman."

Hiro rolled his eyes at her bluntness, she always wanted to rip the bandaid instead of tugging it off slowly. "Have you found a way to contact the other Spider people you met?"  
"Yeah." Her face scrunched up. "But the Gwen I met came up with it first. I'm a little impressed. Thought I was the only teen genius of the group."

He could only laugh at her little joke. "Sounds better than what I had to deal with, I found out my friend Mikan was a mole for Obake. Ari's on the fence about forgiving her, I'm just glad she saw the error of her ways, and everyone else doesn't want to talk to her for weeks."  
"Does she know your secret identity?"  
"Her dad told her." Hiro huffed. "She has the decency to not tell her siblings."  
Peni nodded. "Good to know your friend has standards. Harry blew a fuse when finding out Peter's identity, thanks to his Spiderman grudge."  
"Peni, chill." Hiro told her. "Didn't they patch things up?"  
"Yeah but I'm not gonna forgive him for his 'Spiderman is a menace' comments." She grumbled. "He's been saying them for the past year." Then sighed. "Did you at least tell Ari about... Uncle Ben? I don't want her to ask Peter about it, he needs a break after all the villains he fought as Spiderman."  
"I did. we all need a break." Hiro sighed. "At least he probably didn't have to deal with anyone he knows getting a crush on a supervillain!"  
Peni almost spat out her water. "I'm not even going to ask. Your sister sounds wild man."

"Yeah. She doesn't know about you and Peter's identities, have you told Peter yet that I know about yours?"  
"Nah." She grinned. "I'd miss having chats like these."  
"Me too."

* * *

She had woken up shortly after Hiro had got up, but the bed was so cozy she didn't want to leave. So Ari continued to lie there in the warm depths of the soft covers.

Until she felt the bitter cold as they ripped from her.  
"Rise and shine loser!" Hiro's boisterous voice revealed the blanket thief. "I've been up for an hour, now it's your turn!"  
"Hiroo." She groaned, making blind grabs for the blankets. "I'm tired!"

Hiro pouted. "Okay, I guess I'll have breakfast all to myself then..."  
That got her attention, she stood up in a flash. "You wouldn't!"  
"I would." Hiro rubbed his belly. "I'm a growing boy, I need all the nutrition I can get."  
"Fine, fine, I'm up." Ari yawned. Hiro stepped out of the room to allow her to get dressed in peace. And exited once she was wearing her usual striped sweater and pair of khakis.

"By the way." Hiro glanced left and right. "Don't call Aunt May's pancake 'pancakes.' For some reason she, Peni, and Peter call them 'wheatcakes', just go with the flow." He had this frightful look on his face, as if she didn't want to know the "or else..."

"Okay?" She raised an eyebrow. _I guess every family has their quirks._

* * *

The pan- _wheatcakes_ were really delicious. They tasted great alongside turkey bacon and creamy milk. Everything Ari could want for breakfast.

Except.. She wasn't really talking to her cousins, which was a bummer. Hiro was chattering away with Peni about science stuff, May and Cass were talking about recipes. Which just left the boy to her right, who was half-heartedly digging into his wheatcakes and hashbrowns.

"Peter." Ari poked him. He didn't reply. "Peter." She raised her voice, he looked up.  
"Huh?" She got a good look at his eyes, which were tired and ragged. She was used to such a sight from Hiro whenever he had a long night patrol of fighting crime, but she didn't know what was the cause of her cousin's tired state.

"What kind of school do you go to?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "Regular school? A private school? Prep... school? Or online school like I was?"  
Peter chuckled with amusement. "We don't have the funds for fancy schools, but Peni and I managed to squeeze our way into Horizon High. It's kind of a private high school/college."  
"Huh?" _It's a private high school but also a college?_

"Kind of complicated." He took a sip of milk. "Hiro goes to SFIT, a really nice STEM college correct? Horizon is kind of like that, but there's a high school level, and a college level."

"Ohh..." She realized. "Which level are you on?"  
"High school level." Peter told her. "Peni's smart enough to get into the college level, so paying for her tution is a tad more pricier than mine, but we make do."  
"Pro tip for you Ari if you ever want to get into a rich college!" Peni called from the other side of the table. "Invest in coin and your own online services!" She then got a light jab from Hiro, who was blushing with embarrassment. For some reason.

Peter just comically rolled his eyes. "Peni's able to pay for her own classes by offering her programming services online, good for her." He took a bite of his wheatcakes. "She's been trying to get Hiro and I to the same but it hasn't worked."  
"Yet!" Another jab from Hiro. _I wonder if there's some history behind that..._

Ari grinned. "Sounds cool. What do you and Peni study?"

"I study Chemistry and Computer Science." Peter boasted. "She studies Robotics and Programming, she's really good at it."

"Yes." Peni wore a boastful grin. "Yes I am."

"What school are you going to?"  
"Uhh…" Ari rambled. "I'm going to Bridgeton next semester."

"Oh, thank god." Peni gave a sigh of relief. "It's not Whitepine."

"I learned my lesson there." Cass sighed.

Ari raised an eyebrow, but she didn't push it. _That must've been Hiro's high school… ouch._

Peter awkwardly coughed. "Anyways, how was your first semester at SFIT, Hiro?"  
"Fun!" Hiro grinned. "It was hard at first, but I'm fitting well."  
"That's good, I was worried you'd go back to easy bot-fights."  
"Hey!" He blushed as the two Parkers laughed.  
"Yeah, you do like the easy way out things." Peni added.  
"Oh, Peni." Hiro rolled his eyes. "You seem to be great as ever."

"Likewise." She smiled. "Spyder is also doing great."  
"Spyder?" Ari raised an eyebrow.

Peni gave her a wolfish grin in response. "I'll show you."

* * *

"Finish breakfast early to see Spyder." Hiro said. "It'll be fun." He said. Ari expected the pet Peni had named after a sports car to be a little rabbit, maybe a mouse.

But no, "Spyder" was a female wolf spider with a black body and red highlights that Peni allowed to climb on her shoulder. She wasn't as arachnophobic as Fred was, but she dreaded getting bitten by one nonetheless.

"Spy won't bite you." Peni had reassured her. "She only bit me once."  
"Once?!" Ari nervously gulped.  
"Yep. Never did it again, and she won't bite you or Hiro." She added. "Unless I tell her to."  
The spider chittered in agreement as she rested on Peni's shoulder. Ari felt all her nerves shot up in both admiration and fear of her cousin.

"So uh..." Ari tried to focus her attention away from the venomous arachnid and to Peni instead. "Do you want to grab the guys and uh, I've never been to New York so maybe you could give me a tour!"  
Her cousin nodded. "Sure, I guess it wouldn't hurt to go shopping and get some new clothes. I find it weird how you constantly wear that sweater."  
"Hey!" She huffed. "It's cozy!"  
Peni's childish laughter circled around her as the two headed downstairs to act on such plans. All the while Spyder stared at Ari with curious red eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiro and Peni are superhero nerd cousins and I LIVE for it.
> 
> And yeah events of the Spiderverse happened the same time as the Super Island arc for Peni. It was reaaaaal awkward coming up for a cover story to Aunt May.
> 
> Also you might be asking "Sparks why is Peni's spider called Spyder with a y" well glad you asked non-existent commenter (*sob* guys plz comment more I need support) It's after my dog Spyder who passed in the beginning of 2020. I wanted to keep his memory alive in Heroes of Flowers in the form of Spyder the wolf spider.
> 
> Next chapter has a lil' bit of action in it, as a treat.


	4. Chapter 3: Shopping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cousins go shopping!

Peter loved his new cousin! She was very sweet and made Hiro happy, what more could he ask for?

Speaking of the robotics genius, he was in his own little world scrolling down his phone. "Hey Hiro?"

He looked up. "Hm?"  
"What's up?"

"The sky." He sarcastically replied.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Very funny. What are you looking at?"  
"Just messaging my friends. In the local group chat." Hiro shrugged. "Fred is posting memes, again."  
He could relate to that. "Reminds me of when Miles posts a lot of memes in the chat until Anya tells him to stop." Peter mostly watched the chaos unfold, especially when Peni got involved. "It's great that you're doing okay."  
Hiro could only smile back at his cousin. "Yeah, me too."

* * *

Peni had noticed a few things about her new cousin so far.

Ari had a hard time adjusting to the fact she was accepted as part of the family despite Hiro reassuring her that she was.

And she would die in that long sleeved blue-striped black sweater of hers. New pair of pants and even a pair of shorts? Sure. New pairs of shoes? Of course! But try to get her to wear a crop top or a logo shirt, good luck.

She and Peter were to the side, watching as Hiro failed to get Ari to try something new.

"Oh come on Ari, I promise I won't steal your sweater!" Hiro was holding a dark blue t-shirt in his hand with a Linkin Park logo on the front.

"That's exactly what someone who wants to steal my sweater would say!"  
"Ari! C'mon! You like it when I play this music and this is a cool t-shirt!"  
"No I like my sweater, it's-"  
"Cozy and easy to wear you've told me fifteen times."  
"Hiro!"  
"Ari!"  
Peter chuckled. "I bet this is how all our friends see us."  
"I doubt it." Peni smirked. "How do you feel about our new cousin? She was chatting with you a bit at breakfast."

Her brother hummed, bringing a hand to his chin as he thought over the question. "She's nice." Peter commented. "She wasn't really too nosy with her questions, and also she's really nice to Hiro. I'm glad."  
"Even though he used to call us once a week and talked about her half of those times, you still were skeptical?" She raised an eyebrow. "Were you gonna try and give her the shovel talk?"  
"No!" Peter denied. "Maybe... But people sometimes aren't who they appear to be. Hiro's a good person, he doesn't deserve to go through what I went through. Finding out you were lied to by a loved one."  
Peni knew he was referring to the whole mess with Norman. ' _Then again, how would you react to knowing the father of your best friend was a manipulative jerk who wanted to destroy your superhero identity for his own greed.'_ She heard Spyder chitter telepathically. ' _Oh, wait.'_

She just rolled her eyes at the spider. ' _And what do you think about Ari?'_

' _I can tell she's been hurt.'_

Peni frowned. ' _Hurt?'_

' _Hurt like me._ ' She turned to Spyder, her red eyes staring at Ari who had finally caved in and was going to the dressing room. Hiro having a smug smirk on his face.

' _So you're saying someone hurt Ari the same way Raymon-I mean The Jackal hurt you?_ ' She raised an eyebrow. ' _I mean she didn't look like a radioactive spider to me…'_ That caused the wolf spider to chitter with laughter.

' _She's healing though. Like I did."_ Spyder purred. " _Cousin is in good hands with Hiro. Probably better in his hands than you and Peter's.'  
_' _Bite me.'  
_' _Already did.'  
_' _Your friend bit Peter first. And then when I rescued you from Oscorp how do you repay the favor? Doing the same.'_ Her inner voice was more teasing, she didn't regret allowing the spider to bite her so she could understand what was going on with Peter. But it annoyed her that the bite didn't give her the same superpowers Peter had. _Well, telepathy beats wall climbing… sometimes._

Her brother tapping her shoulders brought her attention away from her telepathic conversation with Spyder. "Looks like Ari's back."  
The girl was reluctantly wearing the t-shirt Hiro had shown her, her face screamed annoyance. "Looks good on you." Peni flashed her a thumbs up.  
"Yeah!" Peter added.  
Hiro grinned as she turned to Ari. "See? That wasn't so bad, you're welcome!"  
Ari responded by tossing her sweater in his face. Which caused Peni and Spyder to chitter with laughter.

Until...

_DANGER!_

Peni felt her spider-sense shoot up with warning, Peter felt the same thing. "What the..?" He turned to the right wall of the store. "Guys!" He rushed over to their cousins, and dragged them to the front of the store.  
"Hey hold up!" Ari huffed. "Still need to pay for the clothing we bought, remember?"

_CRASH!_

The entire right wall fell about as a large, green armored man burst through the walls. A bag of jewels in his hands. Everyone else in the clothing store store screamed and began running for cover as the man then turned to the cashier.

"What is that thing?!" Ari shrieked with horror.

"That." Peter raised one finger. "Is a New York supervillain called Scorpion. _Avoid at all costs._ "  
"There are supervillains here too?!" She stomped on the floor. "Nowhere is safe nowadays!"

Hiro dryly chuckled. "Tell me about it."  
' _Peter.'_ Peni focused her connection to her brother, who nodded. ' _I'll get our cousins to safety. You handle Scorpion.'_ He flashed her a thumbs up and ran behind a few isles of thick clothes where no one else ran to.

Scorpion had grabbed the cashier, the poor man dangling in the air as the supervillain's claws gripped his sides. "Hand over the money, and no one gets hurt!"  
_Twip!_

"Ow!" A ball of spiderwebs in the head caused him to drop the cashier and he booked it like the rest of the customers.

And a red and blue-costumed superhero dropped from the ceiling.

"Didn't anyone tell you that the extra, extra, extra large clothes don't fit your size Scorpion?" Peter landed on the counter, but to everyone else and Scorpion... Spiderman had finally arrived to save the day.

"And that's the superhero of New York, Spiderman." She heard Hiro whisper to Ari, her wide eyes staring at Peter with fascination. "There are two other spider superheroes, Kid Arachnid and Sp/dr, I'm personally a fan of Sp/dr because they're a spider mech." Hiro winked at her, she just shook her head in amusement. "It's all good Ari."  
"Spiderman!" Scorpion addressed Peter. "Must you always ruin my day?"  
"Well maybe if you got out less, you wouldn't see me as much." Peter fired back. "Then again I never visit jail so maybe you should get a room there!"

Scorpion roared with anger and swung his claws at Peter. "Missed me!" He taunted, leaping into the air and firing more shots at Scorpion. He tumbled and fell to the ground, but swung another one of his claws which clipped Peter.

"Ha!" Scorpion cackled when seeing her cousin fall on some of the clothing racks. Peni winced in sympathy. _Ouch.._

But he got back to his feet and threw a good punch at Scorpion. The supervillain crashed into the wall and Peter took the chance to web him to the wall. Scorpion roared and tried to burst out from the webs, so Peter kept webbing until Scorpion was too tightly trapped to break free.

"Hey since we're in a clothing store, can you point me to the section where you bought your outfit?" Peter asked him. "Because something that atrocious has to be cheap."  
Scorpion merely growled in response, he tried yelling something vile and he got his mouth webbed shut.

"Ouch!" Hiro called out, Peni snickered in response.

Peter then pretended to notice them and jumped right to where they were. Ari squealed with excitement. "Oh my gosh, you're a superhero! Hi!" She shyly waved her hand.  
"Hey." She bit back a laugh when her cousin deepened his voice to try and disguise himself.

' _Shame you didn't get to show off._ ' Spyder pouted.

' _Sounds like someone's jealous._ ' Peni teased.

Peter had quickly left and returned to the group in his normal clothing. "Glad you guys are okay." He told them. "I was just... Calling the police."  
Hiro flashed him a thumbs up. "Good call." He grinned.  
"Does that normally happen to you guys?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "Like, you just casually go shopping and all of a sudden a villain attacks?!"  
"That usually happens to Peter." Peni gestured a thumb to her cousin, who curled his lip.

"Hey!"

Hiro snickered. "Well, at least New York has heroes like back home does."  
"Oh, like Big Hero 6!" Peter exclaimed. "I am such a huge fan of them. My favorite is their leader, Captain Cutie!"

Peni and Ari howled with laughter as Hiro turned red with embarrassment. "Where did you get that name?"  
"Ari showed me this fic on the bus ride here, it was a popular story so..."  
"Oh course." Hiro narrowed his eyes at her. "Thanks Ari."  
"You're welcome! Can I have my sweater back now?"

* * *

As they headed back home, Ari went to Cass and May to spend time with the adults. Peter decided to sneak out for a patrol around the city in case of any other supervillain attacks.

Which just left Peni and Hiro, chilling in her room. By themselves.

' _Now's a good time to ask about his new sister.'_ Well, Spyder was back in her terrarium, eating some grasshoppers.

"So, Ari." Peni decided to ask Hiro. "What happened to her?"  
"Amnesia. I told you this." He replied. "We think that someone might have caused her amnesia..."  
"Like wiped her memories?"  
"Yep."  
"...That's messed up."  
"I know." Hiro bowed his head down. "She doesn't want to go poking for evidence, but if you find anything on your end, let me know okay?"  
Peni nodded. "She seems to be doing well, her presence is making Peter a lot better."  
Hiro flashed a look of concern. "Is Peter okay?"  
The programmer frowned. "He uh… well honestly he hasn't been doing well with his depression since Uncle Ben died and she…" Peni paused, perhaps thinking of a previous incident that happened during Peter's first year at Horizon. "Norman's abuse to Harry didn't help either."  
"Abuse?"  
Her gaze darkened. "Well, Peter missed the warning signs once. And this time he wasn't going to miss them. Norman was manipulating Harry and while I don't know all the details, let's just say a guy willing to stage his son's own expulsion and willing to marry him off just to improve _his_ family name isn't a good father."

His eyes widened in horror. He was aware that Peter was going through a lot himself but to witness a friend getting hurt like that… "Are they okay now?"  
"Mhm. Norman's gone now, and Harry and Peter are both recovering." Peni reassured him. "And I of course am glad that jerk isn't tearing them apart."  
Hiro nodded. "Yeah." He then pulled his cousin into a hug since she needed one, Peni just returned the hug back.  
"Now that we got that out of the way." She smiled. "Do you want to hear the time Peter got pranked a lot by this one youtuber?"  
"Do I? I'd love to!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some action happens! It was my attempt at writing Spiderman fights. And also writing my hcs of Peni's spider powers, I 100% think she's telepathic.
> 
> I LOVED writing the cousin bonding some chapter :3
> 
> See you guys next week, I don't have much to say. And remember you can send the characters a question in the comments


	5. Chapter 4: Texts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Textfics, memes, forshadowing, oh my!

"Hiro! Hey Hiro!" He turned his head to see Ari running up to him, phone in her hands. "Look at this really funny video Sara sent me!"  
"Uh, that's her blog channel." He pointed out when seeing Ari bring up the page. "But, what's the video?"  
She grinned and clicked on it. The camera showed Sara at the mall, a faint holiday jingle playing.

" _So, fair viewers. I'm at the mall._ " Sara gestured to the scenery. " _Finally buying my brother a new phone._ "  
"What happened to David's old phone?"  
"Um, the showcase fire..."  
"Oh."

The video continued. " _And as I'm going through the dang store, I find this."_ Sara tilted the camera and dozens of Christmas decorations were over the store, David was to the side humming the holiday tune playing. " _Halloween was recently and this is what I see."_

Words could not describe the irritation on her face.

" _Christmas loving maniacs._ "

Both Ari and Hiro howled with laughter. "Oh my gosh poor Sara!"  
" _This... this is what I have to put up with._ " Sara groaned. " _It's too soon for these holiday shenanigans._ "

* * *

Ferns and Nerds group chat:

Sara Ferns: IF I HEAR ONE MORE CHRISTMAS SONG IN THE FALL I'M GOING TO BURN THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT STORE DOWN!  
Wasabi: SARA

Mikan Ferns: Tempting but DON'T

Hiro Hamada: So I guess now is a bad time to ask how's Baymax

Fredzilla: HE LIVES

Sara Ferns: "Sara is still raging about Christmas so I took her phone" -David. "Also where's Ari?"

Ariel Rosemary: Present! : D

Wasabi: How's it going in the Big Apple?

Ariel Rosemary: I HAVE COUSINS NOW HOW DO I PROCESS THIS

Mikan Ferns: Eat ice cream and cry

Mikan Ferns: Speaking from experience

Ariel Rosemary: Huh.

Gogo: Wait you cry?

Mikan Ferns: So rude ;-;. But understandable. I am aware of my heartlessness tbh.

Sara Ferns: "Sis no" -David

Hiro Hamada: Can I get a Baymax check plz?

Honey Lemon: We played tennis the other day! It was fun!

Gogo: Today I'm gonna teach him how to skate : )

Ariel Rosemary: GOGO USED AN EMOTICON I WOKE UP IN THE WRONG DIMENSION

Fredzilla: IT'S BEEN 3000 YEARS

Gogo: I s2g you two are peas in a pod

Hiro Hamada: Fred stop trying to steal my sister!  
Sienna Kline: I log in to wonder what the hell did I just read

Hiro Hamada: Fred's jealous I called Ari my sister first :3c. Too slow sucker.

Fredzilla: Were it not for the laws of this land I would have slaughtered you

Ariel Rosemary: Guys stop : (

Sara Ferns: YOU MADE ARI SAD NOW

Honey Lemon: Guys!  
Hiro Hamada: OH MY GOD I'M SORRY ARI

Fredzilla: FORGIVE US FOR OUR SINS

Ariel Rosemary: Fred you're lucky you're back home, Hiro I'm calling Peni.

Hiro Hamada: WELP I'M DEAD GUYS READ MY WILL TO BAYMAX

Gogo: I'm moderating it so I can have all your stuff in the garage

Sienna Kline: I repeat. What did I just log in to.

* * *

_Meanwhile in a group chat that isn't hosted by the Fern Kids…_

_Parker Plays joins the chat_

Good Cop: HE'S ALIIIIIVE

Parker Plays: I was gone for 2 days, seriously Miles. Seriously

Chaos Energy: At least I checked in with the group chat Peter.

Parker Plays: Must you sass me like this

Chaos Energy: Ye : )

Spider Gwen: Hey Peter!

Anya: Hey.

Parker Plays: Hey guys!  
Parker Plays: ...Where is Harry D :

Bad Cop: I'M HERE DON'T BE SAD

Parker Plays: : D

Chaos Energy: No homo

Bad Cop: Good to see you too Peni

Chaos Energy: ; P

Parker Plays: Sorry for lack of attendance, I've been spending time with my cousins. They're visiting.

Anya: Understandable, have a nice day

Spider Gwen: Plural?

Parker Plays: Ari,jpeg

Parker Plays: I have a new cousin now. Her names Ari and I will take over the city for her

Bad Cop: Same

Chaos Energy: Well that escalated quickly. I think she's okay. Hiro talks about her a lot so it's taking time knowing her in person

Good Cop: Oh my gosh cutie I have to meet herrr!

Anya: Awwww precious.

Spider Gwen: She's so adorable! I feel like I've seen her tho : /

Parker Plays: Hiro sent me a picture once and I showed you, remember?

Spider Gwen: Oh right!

Chaos Energy: I'm right next to her and showed her your reactions. She's like "?"

Good Cop: TELL HER I SAID HI : D. I WANNA MEET HER

Chaos Energy: That's a maybe.

Bad Cop: I wanna meet her too.

Parker Plays: Come over then!

Bad Cop: : D

Parker Plays: : D

Good Cop: I feel so betrayed *sob*

Anya: Aww poor Miles

Spider Gwen: Oof

* * *

Peter snickered with amusement as he scrolled through the chat. _Miles does love being dramatic in the chat._ He felt his fingers drum to the beat of the rock tune playing throughout the cafe. _Now if Harry could show up all will be well in the world._

And speaking of the devil, a familiar head of swooped up black hair walked through the door. His sky-blue eyes were full of amusement.  
"Hey Pete." Harry greeted him warmly.  
"Harry!" He bounced up with joy, scooping him into a hug. "Glad you could make it, I know things are busy for you since taking over your dad's company."  
"Well I was able to reschedule a few meetings to keep an old tradition of ours." They both took seats. "So, your cousins are in town."  
"Yep." He nodded.  
"And from the picture you sent in the chat, Ari's the new one?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "What's she like?"  
"Curious." Peter hummed. "A bit awkward, and scared for some reason. But she's got a kind heart. Hiro really adores her, he used to call Peni all the time about advice for her."  
"How come?"  
"According to her, Ari's suffering from amnesia. Probably due to a traumatic experience based on what she remembered."  
Harry frowned, a look of concern in his eyes. "Should... should you be telling me this?"

He raised an eyebrow at the question. But realization hit Peter like a truck. "Oh, well I don't want to hide stuff from you anymore." _Considering how much of a dent it put in our friendship._

"I get it." Harry gazed outside, rain was starting to drizzle in. "I never should've listened to my dad about how much of a menace Spiderman was."  
"He's your dad." Peter placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Of course you love him and listen to everything he says."  
"He was still manipulative." Harry clenched his teeth. But Peter pulling him into a hug calmed him down. "Thanks Pete."  
"If you need anyone to talk to, let me know." He smiled at him.

They didn't continue talking about the subject as they got their smoothies. Harry was instead talking about some of the stuff he was doing at Oscorp, Peter felt a twinge of pride of how much good his friend was doing with his father's company.

"I've started to become addicted to french vanilla coffee now." Harry was telling him. "It wakes me up in the morning and now I've become a typical boring adult who loves coffee."  
"Oh no!" Peter dramatically exclaimed. "Does that mean you're gonna buy coffee every time now?"  
"Pfft." He chuckled. "Nothing beats the smoothies here, I just like coffee now."  
"You better not start teaming up with Peni to try and get me to try coffee." Peter raised a hand. "I don't think I could win the war."  
Harry flashed a dramatic grin. "Start counting for your doom Pete, soon you will bow down to the might of coffee!"  
"Oh no!" They both burst into laughter.  
"Also..." Harry's gaze darkened. "I'm glad you could make it, because guess who keeps trying to badger me for a partnership?"  
"Please tell me it's not August Wilkins?"

"I wish." His friend's gaze darkened at the mention of the CEO of I-Tech. "The nerve of that guy thinking he can casually barge into Oscorp with a business deal after what he tried to do to me and T-" Harry paused. "Nevermind. I don't wanna talk about it."  
Peter understood where he was coming from. He didn't want to think about their missing friend either. "I hope she's still out there…"

"I don't know." Harry frowned. "But I know that it's not your fault she's gone."

"Yeah." Trying to change the subject, he glanced back to Harry's shining blue eyes. "Peni found a way to communicate with the other spider people, I got to meet them and they were cool."  
It worked, his friend perked up. "Oh, really? Were they all named Peter?"  
"No!" There was a pause. "Well _three_ of them but one's a talking pig so-" He got cut off by Harry's laughter.  
"Oh my gosh, you cannot win no matter what dimension you're in!" Harry snickered. "So no alternate spider version of me?"  
"You'd be terrible at quips."  
"I thought you told me that I can be well e _quipped_ for situations?"  
Peter groaned as Harry cackled at his own pun. They spent the rest of their time enjoying smoothies and talking about various sciences, mending over the injuries that had been inflicted on their relationship.

* * *

_Meanwhile in another… ANOTHER group chat:_

_Spiderfam Chat:_

Sp/dr: Guys if my brother keeps going on patrol I'm going to strangle him

Sp/dr: Workaholic DOES HE HAVE TO DO THIS WHEN OUR COUSINS VISIT

Ben: I HEARD THAT!

Dad: Weren't you going to hang with your BF?

Ben: HARRY IS NOT MY BF

Sp/dr: Yet

Ben: WOXKwo,ceO-XLAC[PW;X]PCXP';C;

Sunflower: Peni you should probably stop

Noir: Is that some type of norse code?

Gwanda: No it's keyboard smashing, oof.

Ben: I just left, and I'm doing an extra patrol because SOMEbody ditched her shift again!

Sp/dr: I couldn't give our cousins the slip, okay?

Ham: Oh you got folks coming over? How's Spy reacting to them?

Sp/dr: She's doing fine. Do you miss your spider buddy that bad?

Ham: YES

Noir: I thought you were a pig?

Ham: I was a spider first Noir!  
Dad: Ben you go finish up patrolling and go to your cousins bc I'd kill to be in your shoes rn.

Ben: You not my dad!

Noir: Repeat that?

Ben: OKAY GOING NOW

Sp/dr: Thanks Noir! : D

Noir: No problem Peni, anything for you gal.

Ham: Lol Noir is trying to take your dad title B.

Dad: I'm not scared by someone who didn't know how to use a phone until we made this chat.

Noir: It's like using a portable typewriter

Noir: Miles and Gwen would prefer you having the dad title though.

Sunflower: Ye :3

Gwanda: Where's the lie tho

Noir: I still do not understand those little faces you type in.

Sp/dr: They're emoticons : D

Sunflower: Also can one of you come over? Doc Ock is causing trouble again : (

Gwanda: Uch.

Sp/dr: She scares me more than our Ock.

Dad: Your Ock is a bratty child, Miles's Ock is freaking nuts.

Ham: I have nothing better to do, omw.

Sunflower: Yayyy!

Gwanda: My Ock's been in jail for awhile, I'll come too to sharpen my skills

Noir: Only you would face Ock again just as target practice

Gwanda: *Shrug*

Ben: I finished patrol, are you happy now?!

Sp/dr: That was quick

Ben: Haven't seen much since Scorpion showed up.

Ben: Wait you guys are beating up Miles' Doc Ock? OMW

Sp/dr: DANGIT PETER GET BACK HERE

Sp/dr: Uch I'm going to make sure he doesn't do something stupid

Noir: Might as well come too to make sure the kids aren't in trouble

Dad: Okay so we're doing a beat up Doc Ock party now.

Sunflower: Burgers for everyone afterwords

Dad: WOO LET'S GET THIS BREAD

Noir: We're getting burgers however.

Sp/dr: It's a joke, I'll tell you later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filler chapter in a filler fic!
> 
> Also mild Spiderverse cameo with the rest of the Spiders... I had to give them a group chat. And owo what's this? Mild foreshadowing to og plot w/ the spiders? Well it's a slow burn plot.
> 
> Anyways enjoy the texting memes, and feel free to ask questions to the cast!


	6. Chapter 5:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MSM Cast: Making my way downtown, walking fast  
> Plot: :)))  
> MSM Cast: WALKING FASTER

_Ding-dong!_

"That's the door." Hiro commented, as Peter got up to answer it.  
"I hope it's not a salesman." Peni grumbled.

A happy squeal from Peter made them look up. "Harry, Miles!" Two boys around his age were at the door, one had swooped up black hair, blue eyes and a blue shirt. The other had short dark brown hair, golden-brown eyes, and a grey hoodie.

Ari, who had been in the kitchen, poked her head from the door frame at the sound. "What's going on?"  
"Some of Peter's friends are visiting." Peni explained.

"Cool! Can we meet them?"  
Peter's laughter cut off Peni before she could reply. "Relax Ari, it'd be awkward if I didn't introduce you." He turned back to his friends. "Miles, Harry, this is my cousin Ari. Ari, these are some of my friends and classmates from Horizon."

She gave them a friendly wave, then paused. "Wait, how come Hiro didn't get introduced?"  
"I met Harry once." Hiro shrugged. "Haven't met Miles though." He looked over to Peni, who was sitting next to him. "Don't you guys have two other friends?"

"You mean Gwen and Anya?" Peni gestured. "Well, Gwen's been staying at home for stuff, Anya's been helping her." Her neutral expression turning into a frown made Hiro guess what it was about. _Guess they were hurt by the spider monster thing a whole lot._

He turned back to the front door as Ari was walking over to Peter, then looked over to his friends. "So, you all go to Horizon?"  
"I used to." Harry shrugged. "But then some stuff happened."  
"You could still attend back, Harry." Miles pointed out. "I bet if you talk to Max about it he'll-"  
Peni and Harry both groaned, then looked at eachother. "Miles, don't even mention that guy around me." The former glared.  
"Oh, right. Forgot you don't like the head of Horizon's high school students." Hiro commented.  
"Why does-"  
"Don't ask Ari, just don't." Every now and then when he called, Peni would often rant about Max Modell, though the man had allowed her cousin into Horizon, the constant badgering about the pricey tuition and about some venom thing was what came up the most. Whoever Max was, he was not on Peni's good side anytime soon.  
His sister paused. "Okay…"

"Anyways." Peter cleared his throat, turning to his friends. "You want me to put on some Dragon Prince?"  
"Hell yeah!"

"Yes!"

* * *

Several minutes after the tv show was running, Ari noticed that Peter was rather close to Harry on the couch, their arms nearly touching. "So, Harry." She spoke up.  
"Hm?" He turned to face the sweater girl. "Yes?"  
"You're friends with Peter, right?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been friends for?"

Harry had chuckled, a look of nostalgia on his face. "Oh, we've been friends for ages. Since elementary school! Me and Peter go way back."  
"That's right." Peter nodded. "And we've been best friends ever since."  
For some reason Peni snickered, but then awkwardly coughed. "Miles, haven't known for long. But he's alright."  
"Hey!" Miles pouted. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
"I don't know you, much." She shrugged, looking over to her cousin. "Most of my close friends are out of the city on vacation, or they don't live here. So I'm not as close as the others-" Peni gestured to Miles and Harry. "As Peter is."

"Hm." Hiro hummed. "Do I count as a close friend?"  
Peni flashed him a deadpan stare. "You're family. Family has ascended to another plane of closeness. But you're on thin ice for talking during all the emotional parts!"  
"I've seen this before, Peni! Calm down!"  
"You HAD to talk during the memorial scene, did you!?"  
"Oh, get over it!"  
"You-" They dissolved into playful bickering, Peter rolled his eyes and paused the tv.  
"Children." He sighed. "Guess we're done watching tv for the day."

Miles was the first one to get up. "Alright! How about we get lunch!"  
"It's not even afternoon, Miles."  
"Brunch!"

* * *

They ended up visiting a pizza place for _brunch_. "Y'know, pizza isn't a normal breakfast option." Peni had commented to Hiro, who had huffed in response."  
"Don't talk to me or my pizza ever again." Causing his sister to giggle.

Their cousin shot them a weird look. "You guys have pizza in San Fransokyo too." Peter pointed out."  
Hiro shrugged. "True, but we're mostly Noodle Burger fans."  
"Noodle Burger Boy…"

"Oh my gosh Ari, we already have Fred complaining please not now."

Miles raised an eyebrow. "Who's Noodle Burger Boy? What's a Noodle Burger?!"

"Noodle Burger Boy is this mascot turned villain back home and-" He froze. "You don't know what a Noodle Burger is?"  
The teen frowned. "Nope. We don't have them here."  
"Aw, that stinks." Ari pouted. "Noodle Burgers are tasty! I like Yaki Tacos more."  
Harry shook his head at the group, silent during their meal. "You guys have weird food at San Fransokyo."  
"You're one to talk." Hiro crossed his arms. "Last time I was here I tried some of New York's street food." He stuck his tongue out at the memory. "You guys just smash food together and call it a meal."  
"We do not!"

Peter was laughing at the group's arguing, then paled. "Guys it's _him._ " His voice sounded shaky and frightened.  
His friends looked over and then paled as well. "Oh, no." Miles groaned.

Harry looked over to Hiro and Ari. "Get behind us." He told them, they stood confused as he and Peni pushed them behind the group.  
"What's going-" A man coming up to the group cut off the robotics genius, he was very tall with blonde hair in a professional style, however age was not kind as he looked rather pale with wrinkles around his eyes and lips. Grey hair streaking his hair and goatee, and a small scar on his right bushy eyebrow, and his dark blue eyes stared down at the kids.  
"Peter and Peni Parker, Harry Osborn." The man calmly greeted them. "Fancy seeing you at a place like this." He gestured to the building of the pizza parlour behind them, they were sitting outside after-all. "Then again, you tend to flock at common places.

"Oh, shut up." The programmer greeted him with a snarl. "What do you want, August?"

"How rude, Peni. I thought you'd learn some manners." The man apparently called August, sneered. "Then again, your parents were never around to teach you them."

Hiro jolted to fire a comeback but Miles held a hand. "Do not engage." He whispered.  
"Excuse?" Harry stood in front of Peni, glaring. "She's fine with manners, you could learn a thing or two about them."  
"Ah, still arrogant as ever." August rolled his eyes. "To think you once might've been my son-in-law."

" _You tried to force us-_ "  
"A matter of technicalities." He cut Harry off, then noticing Hiro glaring up at him. "Oh? Did you already find a replacement?" August looked over to Ari, his stare sending shivers down her spine. There was something of deja-vu in his eyes, but she didn't want to know _where_ she got the feeling from.

"They're visiting, and none of your business." Peter snapped. "Leave us alone, you got some nerve bothering us after what happened."  
The business looked angry for a brief second, but calmed. "Norman Osborn's loss was terrible, I had hoped we could one day unite our two business but alas, his son does not seem to have his greatness." Harry looked down at the words.  
"Hey! Harry's greater than you." Miles spoke up. "Go away."  
He did not go away. "I thought at this point you all would grow up at this point." August snapped. "To think Tess considered you worthy friends."

Hiro's eyes widened in horror, Ari was confused until she saw the others look down at the mention of the strange name. Then, her brother spoke up. "I don't blame them for having a hard time getting over what you did to their friend." Hiro sounded _angry_ , it gave her bad flashbacks to their heated argument during the bot robberies. "Go the hell away, before we call the police for harassment. Leave me, my family, and their friends alone or else."

That seemed to work, August slowly started to back off, he sneered at them. "Lowborn scum do not have the right to speak with me." He walked away. "A disgrace my daughter associated with you filth…" And then he left, leaving them alone once more.

"Can I speak up?" Ari raised her hand. "Who was that guy? Why do you all hate him? And who's Tess?!"

Hiro shushed her. "She has a right to know." Peter sighed, facing the sweater girl. "Tess was our friend. That man was August Wilkins, CEO of the I-Tech corporation. He's her father."  
"He sounded like a jerk."  
"He is one!" Miles exclaimed. "He literally ignored me, and I was gonna hit him with a good roast."  
"Consider yourself lucky, Miles." Harry told him. "Least he didn't try to get your dad to force you into an arranged marriage with your friend."

She wanted to ask what he was talking about, but her cousin shaking his head made the question die in her throat. "Tess is currently… missing, because of him." Peni explained. "I think he gets a kick reminding us that she's gone now."

_Oh._ The look in her cousin's eyes reminded her of when Hiro told her about his late brother. "I'm sorry about what happened to your friend."  
Her brother placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ari, not your fault." Hiro told her. "It happened years ago. Best we can do is hope Tess is alive and doing better."  
"If she's alive…" Ari sighed. "How come she didn't contact you guys?"

Peter frowned. "We don't know. Maybe she is gone for good and maybe he had a part in it." He let out a mournful sigh. "There's no proof if she's alive or dead, but there's no way he'd be able to get rid of her. She's just got to be alive."  
She felt so bad for whoever Tess was, having a dad like that who didn't care about her and tormented her friends with her disappearance. "He's not a good dad… is he?"  
"No." Peni frowned. "And he's a real son of a-"  
"Language, Peni." Peter cut her off. "One of these days he'll get more karma than when his shady dealings were exposed." He ruffled his sister's hair, she smiled at him.

"We can only hope."

Ari blinked in confusion. "Exposed?"  
Miles leaned over to whisper. "Peni may or may not have aired his dirty laundry online, anonymously, but we know it was her. He might've gotten away with a few court cases but she definitely destroyed his reputation."  
"Nice, good for her!"

Peni blushed. "Just was mad that he tried worming his way by blaming someone else, I don't know if he knew I was the one who did it but at least I could give him some justice."

Hiro gave her a pat on the back. "C'mon, we could play that new Wormhole game that came out, you have it, right?"  
"Duh, of course! As long as we can play Smash later."  
"Dibs on playing Pikachu!"  
"No one was going to take it from you Miles…"

* * *

They had headed back home afterwards, playing video games until the evening. Ari had noticed how her family and their friend's mood had dimmed after that encounter. Peni was less chatty, if at all, and so was Peter. Harry seemed to be in thought, except when he comforted Peter by giving him reassuring taps on the shoulder or saying a witty pun that made him laugh. That had also cheered up Miles a little, the most energetic of the group, but even he had his spirits dampened because of the CEO.

_Why does that jerk have to bug my friends like that?_ She grumbled. _I hope he gets eaten by a shark for how he treated them and their missing friend!_

But despite that, it didn't ruin Ari's day. And she made sure to use her positive energy to cheer the group up, New York seemed to have gone through a lot lately, and the least she could do is make sure her family was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MSM Miles and Harry make a cameo! I wasn't sure how to write Gwen and Anya so they're not part of this chapter... sorry.
> 
> Oh yeah and plot that's not from the show. Yeah it'll appear way later for HOF. I have some plans with the MSM cast : ))).
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed, don't forget to comment or ask a question to the cast!


	7. Chapter 6: Last Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dinner before our heroes head back home

For the most part, Hiro had been enjoying the days spent with his cousins. He'd bond with Peni over related superhero shenanigans, exchanging tips and tactics on how to tackle their enemies.

"When you mentioned you were looking into more of the multiverse besides the other Spiderverses, do you think..?" Hiro of course had been thinking of his _own_ experience dimension-hopping when he brought that up.  
"You think you might be able to get the original Baymax one day, yes you've told me." Peni had paused work on her mech-suit repairs. "I poked through myself and I'm pretty sure that dimension is sort of like a bubble around ours."  
"A dimension inside a dimension?"  
"More like a barrier to protect ours, I'll try and figure out a way _we_ can travel through without compromising our world's safety to void monsters or what happened in Miles' world. But I'm going to be honest, it'll take a long time without any outside interference." Then they spent the rest of the afternoon working on adding improvements to Sp/dr to strengthen the web fluid.

He was hoping he'd be able to one day rescue the Baymax Tadashi had built, just so he could have something else that his brother made. But also he did not want to compromise the safety of his world.

Hiro also had plenty of bonding moments with Peter, mostly talking about science and comparing schools. He had to admit, were it not for the steep tuition prices he wouldn't mind going to Horizon, Hiro was more content as an SFIT student though.

But all good things had to end, for today was their last day before heading back to San Fransokyo.

So there they were now, huddled in Aunt May's car on their last evening before their flight at midnight going to a restaurant.

Aunt Cass did say it was his treat after completing his first semester, and Ari wasn't complaining either.

"Can we not go to a pizza place?" Ari questioned. "I've already had enough pizza here to last me a lifetime."  
"What's wrong with pizza?" Peter raised an eyebrow.  
"Too much cheesy goodness…"  
"Mood." Hiro stated, causing all four teens to giggle.

* * *

"Settle down kids, we're here." May told them as the car stopped, Peni had poked her head out the window to identify the place.

"Oh sweet! I love the food here." She exclaimed. Hiro poked his own head out of the window to see neon lights illuminating the title of a place he could not say properly.

But he knew it was a Japanese barbeque place, which was good.

_One round of beverages and appetizers later.._

"I love eating here." Peter was telling Ari. "Harry treated a whole bunch of us here once and it was the best. Gwen and Anya also like coming here for dates."  
"Dates?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "Oh, your friends are dating?"  
"Yep."  
"He wishes he was dating Harry though." Peni smugly added.

"Dude!" Peter blushed red with embarrassment as his sister howled with laughter.  
"I don't get it." She turned to Hiro, who shrugged. "Wait he has a crush on Harry?"  
"It's not a crush!  
Hiro shrugged. "Eh, I don't care. As long as whoever my cousins date are nice to them, or else… and that extends to you too sis! You have terrible taste in crushes."  
She glared at him. "You suck."

"I agree with Peni though." He turned to the two cousins, who were both giving each other glares as May tried to ease the tension. "Peter's definitely crushing on his friend."  
"Oh, when did you get so high and mighty on romance?" Ari flashed a smirk, she then turned to their aunt. "Hey Aunt Cass?"  
She placed down her glass of water. "Yes?"  
"Has Hiro ever told you about his classmate Karmi who's around his age and-"  
"ARI!" He was starting to blush red and quickly tried to cover her mouth, but she chuckled and leaned back.  
"They're so cute together, he totally has a crush on her."  
"Do not!"  
"Do too!"  
"Aww Hiro, you didn't tell me there was a classmate around your age." Cass chuckled. "You should bring her over! I need to make sure she's worthy enough to date my nephew."  
His sister tried covering her giggles with her mouth but failed as he felt his whole face flare up. "Aunt Cass the-there's no way that'll happen! She's the literal worst!" Hiro protested.

"Sureee." Ari giggled. "For someone 'whos the literal worst' you sure thought she was pretty at the gala!"  
"HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

"Little sisters see all!"

Things had calmed down a little when the main course arrived. Peni and Cass had opted for vegetarian options while everyone else had meat or fish to cook on the grill. As Ari picked up a piece of beef Hiro protectively blocked her.

"Here, I'll do it." Hiro snatched her piece and placed it on the grill.

Ari pouted. "I can cook my own food y'know."  
"You haven't been to one of these places before." He argued. "I don't want you to get burned."  
She continued to frown at him.

"Aw cheer up Ari, I know how you feel." Peni patted her shoulder. "Peter would probably wrap me up in bubble wrap if he could."  
"Is that possible?" He looked up from his food.  
"See?"  
Hiro rolled his eyes in amusement. "Man I missed talking to you guys."

"You better still video chat us." Peni pointed a fork at him. "And bring Ari too. She's fun."  
"Aww, thanks." She blushed. "You guys are fun too, I never knew having cousins was awesome!" Then she turned to May. "You're fun as well Aunt May."  
"Why thank you." May smiled.

* * *

By the time dessert rolled around and they finished eating, they had to catch their flight.

There was a heavy feeling in the air as May was driving them to the airport. Ari and Peter were talking in the middle row, Cass and May were also chatting in the front row.

Which left the two teen geniuses in the back.

"I'd suggest you keep on your guard." Peni whispered to him. "Just because the villain who caused the star might be gone, doesn't mean there will be other villains."  
"I know." Hiro nodded. "Sparkles is still out there, not to mention the Mad Jacks but what are the chances we'll see them again? And whoever was behind Ari's amnesia."  
"You think it wasn't an accident?"  
"She remembered her parents being shot, and her amnesia was injected by chemicals, connect the dots, Peni." Hiro pointed out. "I'll get to the bottom of it, but if you find anything on your end..."  
"I'll let you know." Her gaze darkened. "But can I ask you something?"  
"Sure." He nodded.  
"What happened about that whole Knox incident?" Peni had a serious look on her face. "There is no way one of the richest men in San Fransokyo was turned into a monster by accident."

He frowned. "You think someone caused that?"  
"Now, I might be biased because of the whole spider monster incident the Jackal caused, not to mention the Rhino..." She grumbled. "But yeah, I think someone was puppeting the strings, be careful."  
"You too." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know that you help your spider friends from other dimensions."  
"What? Sometimes we get food afterwards." Peni argued. "Maybe one day I'll show you this really good burger joint in Miles's dimension."

"Sounds good to me." He smiled.

As they stopped by the airport, Ari was waving goodbye to her cousins with both of her hands. "I'll miss all of you!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe next time we'll visit!" Peter called out.

"Bye." Peni waved.  
"You kids have a good flight." May told them.

"Bye May!" Cass waved to her. "See you soon!"

And as the Parkers drove away, Hiro released a breath he didn't know he was holding. _I really needed this break._

Hopefully the flight back would be less draining as the flight here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All good things had to end. Next week is gonna be the epilouge, and I'm debating when to start posting the next installment Tempest of Hearts
> 
> I hope you guys liked my characterizations of the Parkers, their friends, and some of the baddies... we can all agree that August is the worst (it's not the last time he will be brought up. hahahahaha)
> 
> Don't forget you can ask a character in the comments!


	8. Epilogue: Coming Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family comes home and Ari makes a call  
> Also Heroes of Flowers has a discord server now, join us: https://discord.gg/8jfdccYzrk

"Freedom!" Ari dramatically exclaimed as she ran into the cafe. Followed by the sounds of her brother calling after her.

"Ari, wait up!"

"Kids." Cass chuckled. "Don't forget we still have to pick up Mochi and Baymax."  
"Oh, right." Hiro walked back to the car.  
"I uh..." Ari gestured to her stomach. "Don't think I can handle more car driving." _And if I was in the plane for an hour longer I would've hurled._

"Okay then, you guard the cafe while we get Mochi and Baymax." Hiro told her.

"Yes!" She cheered.  
"We'll be back soon Ari!" Cass and Hiro went back to the car, and drove up to pick up the cat and healthcare companion.

Once they were out of sight, Ari bolted to the mailbox, once she saw the letter with a familiar address she ran up the stairs to her room.

_Please have good advice._ Ari prayed as she ripped open the letter.

* * *

_Dear Ari,_

_So I guess by the time you get this you'll be back from your trip huh? Well I bet New York is great, like I said never been there. Hope you had a good trip. Sidenote please don't feel bad about wanting to educate yourself at school, it's fine, and yes there are libraries in here, I recently picked up this book series about wild battle cats that's kind of weird but I'm not picky._

_Now about this whole Mikan thing you mentioned, wow, just wow. Personally I think your friend is an idiot for breaking your trust like that and I have a few choice words for them causing you stress. And I don't blame your brother and his friends for avoiding her, trust is easy to break and hard to rebuild. And if I were in your shoes I'd probably never talk to Mikan again depending on what she did._

_But to be honest, it's your choice. Do you want to still be friends with her? Are you still mad at her but need time to forgive? How this makes you feel is important, don't sell your happiness away just to keep everyone else happy. Maybe tell your friend how she made you feel, if you haven't done that already. And she better help you with your amnesia if it's the last thing she does!_

_Sorry if I sound really aggro in this letter, I'm not in the bestest of moods while writing this. And these kinds of things make me hold a grudge._

_Hope this advice helps and I didn't make it worse,_

_Juniper._

* * *

"Gee, trust breaking events make you hold grudges, I never knew." Ari sarcastically mumbled, but the letter brought some good points. She did feel cross with Mikan, but she didn't want to cut ties with the girl completely. With a heavy heart, she pulled up her phone, and dialed her number.

Mikan had picked up quickly. " _Hey Ari, you must be back from New York._ "

"Yep, yep I am." She sighed. "Hiro and Aunt Cass are going to pick up Mochi and Baymax, but we need to talk."

There was a sigh on the other line. " _Look I don't blame you if you're taking back your forgiveness, I deserve it._ " Mikan frowned. " _I helped my crazy dad nearly kill everyone in the city and tried splitting the bond between you and Hiro, I'm the worst._ "

"Okay, I didn't want to take back my forgiveness. I just want to know how sorry you are."

" _Jeez Ari, that's metal coming from you._ "  
"I think I deserve some grovelling since you let your dad mind control Baymax and take Hiro to a supervillain's lair."

She heard a groan. " _Fair enough. I am very, very sorry that I helped my dad in his crimes._ "  
"Say sorry for everything you helped him with."  
" _I am sorry for helping him hire the Mad Jacks, and tampering NBB's coding, and also faking that damsel in distress scenario just so we could see Hiro's super strength… And also when I helped him spy on Big Hero 6 when I found out their identities._ "  
"And?"

" _And I'm sorry for blackmailing David into not saying anything about his mom and keeping it secret from Sara. I'm sorry for turning the bay's water into D20 for the machine. And also helping Trina with the robberies and framing Hiro and also stealing from your place of business. I swear I gave the money back._ "  
"Is that all?"  
" _No... I'm sorry for helping my dad with the digital lenses which made you guys see Tada-_ "  
Ari gasped with horror. "You were responsible for that?! Do you know how traumatized Hiro was? What the heck Mikan!?"  
" _I didn't want to!_ " She pleaded. " _Tadashi was my friend too, but Pops is really scary when he's mad. And I'm sorry for what happened at the open house. I'm not saying this to get on your good side, the guilt is really eating me up._ " Mikan sighed. " _Mom's actually sending me to a therapist next week, I know that Baymax can be a therapist as well, but I don't think I deserve his healthcare treatment. I'm not saying this to be guilt-trippy, I just want to be a better person after this._ "  
Considering she was starting to hear small sobs, Ari knew that Mikan was genuine and really did want to redeem herself. "I'm still kind of mad at you, but I don't want to take back my apology. Just, be a better person, okay?"

" _Okay._ " Mikan sighed. " _Okay, I promise._ "  
"And also, please be nicer to Karmi, you both are going to be interns at Sycorax, you really do make her uncomfortable."  
" _I've noticed._ " There was a faint knock on the other line. " _Gotta go, take care Ari._ "  
"Take care." And the call ended, Ari felt a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. _Well that's one obstacle down._ She sighed.

It felt great having an actual conversation with Mikan though, she was a good friend despite the mole stuff. Hopefully her brother and friends would be able to forgive her in time, but she understood it would take awhile, but at least her friend was genuinely trying to get better.

_I just hope next semester is easier, public school shouldn't be harder than being homeschooled and taking online classes and Hiro should have an easy rest of the year._

_...Why do I feel like I'm going to be proven wrong though?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm I wonder what that feeling is Ari : )))
> 
> Thanks for reading Family Vacation. The plotline with August (uhg, jerk) and Tess will come back in the future, or after next arc, feel free to comment your theories about that or for Tempest of Hearts, which will last for the COM arc!
> 
> I'm excited as there will be FEELS. hahahahahha
> 
> Glad you enjoyed this fluffball fic before we get to the action :D

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to 2021 everybody! *confetti noises* anyways welcome to "Family Vacation", which will be the semester break before I get started on the COM drama hehe
> 
> If you haven't read Phase 1: Ferns and Nerds WHAT ARE YA DOIN HERE?! GO READ IT
> 
> Anyways no QOTW for this, instead you guys can ask the cast questions! You can ask any of the characters (Canon and OC) a question in the comments, and they'll answer (or in 's case answer in the AN's here) Make sure you specify which character you're sending it to n.n; also don't be mean.
> 
> Oh yeah my last point if you guys picked it up somehow... this fic is a CROSSOVER! *jazz hands* "Sparks, what's it a crossover of?" Well glad you asked ghost reader! It's a Spiderman crossover! Specifically of the 2017 series, though it won't just be that : )))
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed the prologue, sidenote this fic will be a little short, but hopefully by next transition fic "Curtain Call" (which is after Season 2) will be a little longer for you guys to enjoy! And have a great day everybody!


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